My tipping error

My employer did some free promotional work for a local restaurant, and we received free meals this evening in return. The only stipulation was that we pay for our drinks. My bill arrived, and there was a charge of $12 (plus tax) for the single cocktail I ordered. (No charge for the after-dinner coffee.) Service was very good, so I tipped very well, but I absent-mindedly tipped on just that one cocktail, and not on the $116 five-course fixed-price dinner. When I got home, I thought, "Crap, I blew it." (It wasn't even such a potent cocktail, so I can blame nobody but myself.) Now I'm seriously considering contacting my associate at the restaurant and asking how I can rectify this, since I feel I've insulted my servers.

So... Am I wrong in thinking I've made an error? Am I being ridiculous in thinking I should try to follow up on it? Is there a tactful way to approach this? Has anyone else encountered a similar situation?

It depends. Often restaurants will include the comp in such things, other times they won't. I'd say just take in what you would have tipped, and give it to your server. Just let them know you forgot to tip on the meal last night and want to make sure they are compensated well for the excellent time you had. Even if the restaurant took care of the gratuity, it's a generous touch that won't be forgotten.

It's good you want to rectify it and I don't know that you have to go through your associate as long as you know the server's name (but of course you can if you wish). Just return to the restaurant, cash in hand that you want to give to the server. Ask if she/he is working, if not, ask for a manager and explain that you were there last night and mistakenly undertipped so and so, and say you would like to leave this amount for that person, ask if they can hold it for them until the next time the person works.

I agree completely. When I used to wait tables, I had lots of customers come back and say, oh gosh I did the math wrong, may I leave this tip for so-and-so? Just run-of-the-mill restaurant patrons, not those in complicated bill situations did this, so I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to correct the mistake, and you should, if you consider it a mistake, then just go tell the manager that. It will be handled more easily than you think, probably, because it probably happens more often than you think.

How many is "we" and what did the rest of them do? Often in those circumstances, you end the meal thanking the restaurant owner for the free meal and passing the hat to tip the servers. Sometimes the restaurant owner says that they are covering the tip also. There may be some back and forth, depending on how many Norwegians and Canadians are present.

Thanks to everybody for your feedback. People from my company were split up at different tables, not as one group, so we didn't have a chance to discuss this until later.

I just got off the phone with my contact at the restaurant. Frankly, I'm rather confused by the whole set-up, but at least I'm not so concerned about having stiffed anybody.

I should note that this was actually a sort of dinner theater, not just a straightforward restaurant. The show is set up as a non-profit, and the restaurant is set up as a for-profit. Essentially two companies under one roof putting on a single event. Had I simply been a normal patron that night, I would have spent $116, plus a $13 dining room fee, plus drinks. But the check I would have received at the end of the evening would only reflect the dining room fee and the drinks. So presumably most if not all of the $116 is for the show, rather than the restaurant. (Despite my comp, I was supposed to be charged the $13 dining room fee, but for some reason wasn't.) While servers wear costumes and participate in elements of the show, they are technically part of the restaurant. Tips are pooled, because while each table has a primary server, multiple servers attend you throughout the evening. My contact said that enough is generally consumed each night on drinks (it's a three-hour show seating 285 people; cocktails are $12, a wine flight is $45, etc, and groups often spend hundreds if not thousands on drinks alone; parties of 6 or more receive an automatic 18% beverage gratuity) that tips end up being enough to keep the servers happy.

Does that make sense? If this had been a normal restaurant, I think I would have made an error. But it sounds like this establishment is set up in such a way that I did the right thing, as weird as it sounds.

Karmically, you still shorted the tip, whether it was a larger "pool" that was spread out among others or was an individual or couple at a table.

If you get an item of food complimentary (or with a coupon), you should still tip as if you paid for it. So even if your dinner was comp'd, IMO you should have tipped on the $116 fee. That you weren't charged the additional $13 is also an error, and I would go back and tip on the $140 total, minus whatever you originally tipped. Even if it was only a dollar, IMO it fixes your karma.

And if your contact is a manager, I definitely wouldn't take their word for it. They don't really know if everyone felt like they were a little "thin" that night or how many other people didn't tip on X, Y or Z, they just know how much was made in dollars/sales.

You're right about the $13 dining room fee. I still feel I owe for that. (Although having generously plunked down a $10 for a $12 cocktail, I don't think I owe too much more.) But the impression I got from the phone call was that the $116 fee goes to the theater, based on the way the restaurant and the theater divide up the revenue for their separate businesses, and that the restaurant really counts on making the bulk if it's money from drinks and that token dining room fee. Apparently, if I had been a regular customer, I would have paid the $116 upfront at the box office, and then would have received a check at my table after the meal for the $13 plus drinks. No mention of the $116 would have appeared on the bill.

That surprised me, since it seems like a rather disproportionate allocation, but she assured me it works after all these years. Presumably the theater's money goes to not only the show, but also the entire building, while the kitchen is less concerned with the overall facility and infrastructure of the place. Or who knows, maybe I'm completely misunderstanding the situation.

And no, my contact is not a restaurant manager, she's a sales coordinator in the box office.

It's a very strange set-up, but I think it's becoming more clear to me now that you've posted the above.

Let me get this straight, at no time do patrons receive a bill for the meal and so the servers are never tipped for meal charges? Servers only ever receive tips for the drinks (and maybe the dining fee)?

Sorry my posts have been so confusing. Part of that was my own confusion. And part of it was an attempt to explain the place without sounding like I was continuing to do promotional work for it (which I'm not).

I guess the mistake of my original post was in thinking that the $116 was for the meal. To the best of my current knowledge, it is two separate businesses (a theater and a restaurant) in the same location, putting on a joint event. Performers, box office, janitors, etc., belong to the theater. Chefs, servers, and bartenders belong to the restaurant. The $116 is collected upfront and kept by the theater. That leaves the restaurant to exist on the drinks and the $13 "dining room fee" (which I assume is there to help make up for somebody simply drinking tap water). So no, a diner would not see the $116 on the check at the end. My contact assures me they rake in a ton of money on drinks. And I'll bet a lot of confused diners tip on the $116 anyway.

If you go to a bar or snack counter at a regular theater, you might tip on the cost of the drink or food, but not also on the price of the show's ticket. Same concept here, except that the set-up is so blurred as to be misleading.

And for the record I agree with the other posters that correcting an error is the right thing to do.

Analyzing how they split the proceeds isn't really the right thing here in my opinion, and I'll explain further. If you went to a comedy club and they had a 2 drink min, you're right, you would only tip on the drinks, not the ticket. But you got a MEAL in addition, which you were served by a server, yes? Whether or not the meal is "included in" the price of the ticket or not, IMO is irrelevant, you would still tip on whatever you are served - food, drink, desserts, flambe, appetizers, cheese course, whatever it is. Determining the "exact" price of "just" your meal since it's included in the ticket is a) impossible for most diners and b) not the point. You were served food, you paid for it (as "part" of the package), you should tip accordingly. JMO.

Okay, I did some more research into this on their website. Here is what the website states:

"Q. What is included in the dinner price?A. The ticket price includes: a gourmet five-course meal and an indescribable 3-hour performance.

Q. Are there any other costs associated with seeing the show?A. The ticket price does not include beverages (other than coffee served with dessert), beverage gratuity and parking fee ... At the end of the evening, your server will present you with a check for any beverages you have ordered, a $12 per guest dining room service charge for meal service, and applicable sales tax.

Q. Is gratuity included with the price of the ticket?A. No. Gratuity is based at your discretion on the amount of beverages you consume. Standard gratuity is 18% of your beverage bill. Parties of 6 or more will be charged an automatic 18% beverage gratuity."

So I guess I technically didn't do anything wrong. Did I karmically do something wrong? I'm not sure, though I'm also not sure how I would have guessed the dinner's value had I thought to tip on it as well. My primary server was beaming at the end, telling me how she loves her job and has been there for years, so I guess she's getting adequately compensated somehow. Still, it seems like such an unusual set-up.

You would be doing the right thing to make amends. When we are comp'ed a meal, use a coupon, etc., I always ask for the price, without these, so I can formulate what the tip "should" be. This is usually written on a separate slip of paper, and I can tip, based on service, on what the bill would otherwise have been.

Do contact your associate, and explain the situation. It is right, and you will feel better for it.